Medically Reviewed by Sabrina Felson, MD on September 27, 2022
Question 1/8

Honey is made mostly of:

  • Vitamins and minerals
  • Pollen and flower nectar
  • Sugar and water

If you don’t count the water, it’s 95% to 99% sugar. It’s mostly fructose and glucose, but it also has some probiotic sugars that can help you maintain a healthy mix of bacteria in your gut. And most kinds of honey have vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that help with digestion.

Question 2/8

Natural-made honey is:

  • Bee poop
  • Bee vomit
  • Bee urine

You may not want to think about this as you squeeze the natural sweetener into your cup of tea. Bees collect all that yummy flower nectar and keep in it a special second stomach only to throw it up and pass it to another bee who does the same thing. Finally, it’s put in an area of the beehive called the honeycomb. The bees flap their wings to cool it, and that makes water evaporate, which helps it thicken.

Question 3/8

Bees may need to visit this many flowers to make 1 pound of honey:

  • Half a million
  • 1 million
  • 2 million

The 60,000 bees in a hive may fly as many as 55,000 miles in search of the right blossoms. The kind of flower determines the color and flavor of the honey. There are more than 300 different kinds in the U.S., like buckwheat, clover, and orange blossom.

Question 4/8

Honey helps your body fight pollen allergies.

  • True
  • False

Honey has small amounts of pollen. So the theory goes that eating it can teach your body not to react to it. But that doesn’t hold up. It may be because flower pollen -- the kind most often in honey -- doesn’t typically trigger allergies. The usual suspects are trees, grass, and weeds.

Question 5/8

Children younger than a year old shouldn’t have honey because:

  • It’s too sticky
  • It’s hard to swallow
  • It could lead to sickness from botulism

It’s pretty rare, but wild honey can have a kind of "sleeping" bacteria (botulism). A baby can't digest honey quickly, and the bacteria can wake up and make a dangerous toxin in their intestine. Constipation is the first sign of infant botulism. Other symptoms include weakness and trouble sucking or feeding. Don’t give your child honey, even a tiny bit, until they are at least 1 year old.

Question 6/8

Honey may help your toddler’s cough.

  • True
  • False

Your grandmother may have been onto something. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns against giving over-the-counter cough syrup or cold medicines to children under 6. But honey might be a good option for kids older than 1. Studies show that 1 1/2 teaspoon before bedtime may help you all get a better night’s sleep.

Question 7/8

Honey can help heal a wound if you:

  • Drink it in tea
  • Eat it on an empty stomach
  • Put it directly on it

The ancient Greeks and Romans used honey to dress wounds, and so did the Russians and Germans in World War I. It seems to help prevent infection as well.

Question 8/8

Honey may be good for:

  • Pink eye
  • Diarrhea
  • Burns
  • All the above

It also may help with hemorrhoids, cold sores, and burns. Honey's full of antioxidants that eat up all the "free radicals" that can damage your cells, and it's an anti-inflammatory.

Show Sources

IMAGE PROVIDED BY:

1) Antagain / Getty Images

 

SOURCES:

American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: "Pollen Allergy."

Family Physicians Inquiries Network: "A spoonful of honey helps a coughing child sleep."

Mayo Clinic: "How can I protect my baby from infant botulism?"

National Honey Board: "Learn about Honey."

NIH: "Traditional and Modern Uses of Natural Honey in Human Diseases: A Review," "Medicinal and cosmetic uses of Bee’s Honey -- A review," "Honey -- A Novel Antidiabetic Agent," "Seasonal Allergies at a Glance," "Efficacy and safety of grass sublingual immunotherapy tablet, MK-7243: a large randomized controlled trial," "Infant botulism following honey ingestion."

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